Parshat Behaalotecha: The Weekly Parsha Story Illustrated by AI

[Music] Hello children. Today we're going on a fascinating journey through the Torah portion of Bahalata which continues the journey of the Jews in the desert. The portion opens with God's command explaining to Aaron how to light the holy manora in the tabernacle. The manora was made of pure gold from a single piece. that is one whole piece of gold that was carved and shaped in a special way. It had seven branches and at the top of each branch was a lamp that needed to be lit. When Aaron lit the lamps, he had to make sure that all the light was directed toward the center. The sages tell us that Aaron was sad when he saw the leaders of the tribes bringing special offerings for the dedication of the altar and he thought, "Maybe I am not worthy." But God told him, "Yours is greater than theirs because you light and tend the lamps." After the lighting of the manora, the Torah continues with a special ceremony that was held for the Levites. This is what happened. They sprinkled them with the water of purification, special water for spiritual cleansing. They passed a razor over their entire bodies, washed their clothes, and brought special offerings. One bowl as a burnt offering with its grain offering, and a second bowl as a sin offering. The Levites stood before the tent of meeting and all the Israelites laid their hands on them. Aaron waved the Levites as a wave offering, lifting them up symbolically before God. After this ceremony, the Levites were ready to serve in the tabernacle. They were required to serve from the age of 25 until the age of 50. The portion continues and goes back a bit in time to the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt. The Jewish people celebrate the first Passover in the desert one year after the Exodus from Egypt. But there were people who couldn't celebrate Passover because they were ritually impure. They had come into contact with a dead body. They approached Moshe and Aaron and said, "Why should we miss out on this important mitzvah of the Passover sacrifice?" Moshe asked God, and God gave them a wonderful solution. He gave them a second chance to celebrate Passover. A month later, on the 14th of ER, this teaches us something wonderful. God always gives us a second chance. If we miss something important or made a mistake, it's never too late to fix it. On the 20th day of the second month, in the second year after leaving Egypt, something big happened. The cloud lifted from above the tabernacle. That was the sign that the great journey to the land of Israel was beginning. The Levites took apart the tabernacle and the tribes began to travel in the special order that God had set. Before they set out on the journey, Moshe turned to his father-in-law, Hobb, who is actually Yro, and asked him to join them on the journey to the land of Israel. Moshe said to him, "Come with us, and it will be good for you." At first, Yitro refused because he wanted to return to his own land. But according to the Midash, in the end, he agreed and joined the journey. After they set out on the journey, problems began. Certain people started to complain. The Torah calls them the complainers, people who are always looking for reasons to complain. They didn't say exactly what they were complaining about, but they made others feel bad and dissatisfied. God was angry about these complaints, and a fire broke out at the edge of the camp. People panicked and cried out to Moshe for help, and Moshe prayed to God, and the fire died down. But the problems didn't end there. Another group which the Torah calls the Assafs were the mixed multitude. People from Egypt who joined the Jewish nation when they left. They started complaining about the food who will give us meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt. They complained about the mun, the miraculous food that God sent them. Even though the mun was very tasty and you could taste anything you wanted in it. They said, "We're dried out. There's nothing here. All we see is the mud. The complaints made things very difficult for Moshe. He turned to God and said, "I can't carry all these people by myself. It's too much of a load for me." God helped Moshe in two ways. First, he told Moshe to gather 70 elders, leaders from among the people. God took some of the prophecy and wisdom that was upon Moshe and gave it to the elders as well so they could help Moshe lead. Second, regarding the meat that the people wanted him, God said that he would give the people a lot of meat not for one day, not for 2 days, not for 5 days, not even for 10 or 20 days, but for a whole month until it would come out of their noses and they would be sick of it. While God was placing his spirit upon the 70 elders, something interesting happened. Two men, Eldad and Medad, did not come to the tent of meeting with the other elders, but still received the spirit of God and began to prophesy in the camp. Yhosua Benoon, Mosha's faithful servant, heard about this and said to Moshe, "My master Moshe, stop them." He thought it was wrong for them to prophesy. But Moshe gave an amazing answer. Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all of the Lord's people were prophets. Moshe was not jealous or afraid that others would receive prophecy. On the contrary, he was happy that more people could draw closer to God. Meanwhile, God fulfilled his promise regarding the meat. A strong wind brought huge flocks of quail which landed around the camp. There were tons of birds. According to the verse, they covered the whole land to a height of almost a meter, stretching as far as a day's walk in every direction. At the end of the para, something sad happens. Miriam and Aaron, Mosha's siblings, spoke about him. They said, "Has God only spoken with Moshe? Hasn't he also spoken with us?" They also complained about the fact that Moshe had taken a wife. Moshe didn't respond to them at all because he was very humble. more than anyone else on the face of the earth. But God called all three of them, Moshe, Aaron, and Miriam, to come to the tent of meeting. There he explained to them that Moshe is different from all the other prophets. While other prophets receive prophecy in a dream, God speaks with Moshe face to face in a clear and direct way. God was angry with Miriam and Aaron. And when the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam had leprosy. Her skin was white as snow. Aaron turned to Moshe and pleaded for forgiveness. He begged Moshe. Immediately Moshe prayed to God to heal them. God said that Miriam would have to stay outside the camp for 7 days as punishment and then she could return. The entire nation waited. And to this day, we are commanded to remember the story of Miriam so that we avoid speaking on harah, gossip, or slander. Did the Jewish nation live up to this? And what happened when they repeated the mistake? We'll tell you about that in the next episode.